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Ben E Lou
11-18-2005, 02:00 PM
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</td></tr><!--############################ body #############################--> <tr> <td style="border: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 255);" colspan="3"> Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006

Dear Baseball Fan,

It's been a while since we updated you on the progress of Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006 (OOTP7 to many of you). Today, we are delighted to unveil a brand new website dedicated to the game which you can visit by clicking www.ootpbaseballmanager.com (http://www.ootpbaseballmanager.com/).

Priced at $34.99 (€39.99) and scheduled for release in Spring 2006, Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006 is the follow up to OOTP 6, and the first to be produced alongside Sports Interactive.

In order to keep you all updated on the latest game developments, www.ootpbaseballmanager.com (http://www.ootpbaseballmanager.com/) will contain regular blogs from the team working on the game, the first of which is available right now. In this first of a long series, Markus shows you all around the brand new game interface.


Pre-order today, and get a 20% discount

To co-incide with the release of the site, we are offering newsletter subscribers 20% off the new game (a saving of $7). This discount is 10% greater than that being offered at www.ootpbaseballmanager.com (http://www.ootpbaseballmanager.com/), it's our way of saying thank you for your support over the last six years!

This special 20% discount is only available till Christmas though, so pre-order now to avoid dissapointment. To get your discount, visit the new store at http://www.elicense.com/sigames/store and enter the code OOTPBM20-6BJUJ4GKFDS.

PLEASE NOTE: When you pre-order, Sports Interactive will take payment from your card immediately.
Core game features

Manage your own baseball franchise
Set up the lineups, your pitching staff and depth charts. Demote the struggling rookie, put the injured starter on the DL and trade for a backup catcher. Manage the 40-man roster and scout the upcoming amateur draft pool. In OOTPBM 2006 you can do almost anything a real life GM can do to guide your team to glory.

A realistic and accurate simulation engine
No baseball game is complete without stats, and OOTPBM 2006 is king. In addition, a fully flexible engine allows you to make all the calls pitch-by-pitch. The game truly is as real as it gets.

Customizable financial system
Featuring the most flexible financial system in any baseball simulation ever made, OOTPBM 2006 lets you mirror existing intricacies, or it allows you to invent your own. The only boundary is your imagination.

Scouting and coaching staff at your disposal
All of the staff in your franchise have varying strengths, weaknesses, personalities and of course contract demands. OOTPBM 2006 puts all of your man management skills to the test; it’s in your hands!

Endless possibilities with historical and fictional leagues
Play the game with the real life setup of every major baseball league in the world and in addition, you can import every historical baseball season from 1900 to the present day. If that’s not enough simply create your own fictional baseball league.

Create and play in your own online leagues
Featuring a full online league mode, commissioners and multiple owners can battle it out against each other over the internet. Integrating seamlessly with FTP and HTML you can upload and download files and share them with friends.

Slick intuitive interface
Utilizing the technology and expertise of Sports Interactive, the game has a faster, smarter and slicker interface than ever before. What’s more, it’s fully skinable allowing you to change the game to suit your own personal tastes.


New features and improvements

A complete re-write
Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006 has been totally rewritten from the ground up, the first time since 1999. This results in a completely new baseball gaming experience with the features and gameplay of the past

Personalize your game, your way!
The new version of the game introduces a brand new, fully skinable interface. It features hyperlinks everywhere, right-click menus, drag & drop, recent page history, bookmarks, an integrated HTML browser, customizable player lists (including custom filter setups) and much more. Not only does it look great, it makes your OOTPBM 2006 experience as comfortable as never before!

More league options
One of the big strengths of OOTPBM 2006 is its customization abilities, and this area of the game been overhauled. The following options have been added



League salary structure (assign typical salaries to different player qualities)
Set amateur draft date, rule 5 draft date, trade deadline date and roster expansion date
Draft pick compensation for lost free agents
Limit for foreign players on roster
Unbalanced and inter-league scheduling options
More playoff formats, for example split-season mode
League equivalencies (defines league quality)
League total modifiers (simplifies tweaking)
New play-modes
When you create your baseball universe, you have several options how you want to play. You may choose a team, or start unemployed. When you start without a team, you will get offers from teams that are interested in your service. Once you signed with a team, you have all the control of a team general manager and manager. When you sign with a minor league team, you only have the power of a normal manager though. But you may also be the league commissioner at the same time, a mode which lets you experience the game in a traditional way (you can edit everything, change teams whenever you like, change league rules etc.).

Pitch-by-pitch game engine
The new game engine now simulates each pitch, resulting in more accuracy, more stats and more realistic strategy calls.

New stats engine
Stats are handled vastly different than in previous versions. OOTP 6.5 did store all stats that it tracked, while the new version stores only the stats it needs in order to calculate all the statistics that can be displayed. These results in less space needed, but also in a huge amount of new statistics, as the game now offers stats like VORP, a lot more splits and also double splits for the current season! As an example, you can check out the OPS of your shortstop with a 2-2 count, in June against Boston. Or discover how many homeruns your starting pitcher gave up in inning 7-9 in starts on 3 days of rest. Further, career statistics now include left/right splits for every league, no matter if its rookie-ball or the big leagues. Individual matchups are stored as well, so you can find out how your team / a player did against a certain pitcher in the past.

New defensive player ratings
Adding a whole new realm of realism to the game has meant that players now have 7 ratings for defense, and the combination of these, along with their experience on a certain position, determine the quality of defense on that position.

Improved team game-strategy settings
The team strategy screen now allows you to set game strategies by inning and/or situation. That way you have more control over your team strategy when you are not actively managing every game. For example, you can instruct your team to attempt less stoles bases when the team is leading late in the game, compared to trailing late or a tie.

Editable play-by-play commentary
Using XML, the game engine play-by-play has been completely rewritten and can easily be edited and enhanced. In addition, news stories and headlines are handled the same way.

Two game-views
You now have the choice between two different game screens. The first looks and feels like you’re watching a game on TV, whilst the second displays a lot more stats and has a web-style layout.

Fictional Leagues, better than ever
OOTP 6.5 allowed you to play one league which included 3 minor league levels. OOTPBM 2006 allows you to have as many leagues, in any setup, as you want. Your baseball universe can have just one league in Venezuela with 80 teams. It can have 20 leagues with 5 minor leagues each, in every European country. It may feature one historic league of each decade as well. It’s entirely up to you. And every league has its own set of rules and options of its own, being it the player creation modifiers, league strategy tendencies (formerly known as era-settings) or financial- and roster-rules.

New coach & scouting system
Each team now has a general manager, a manager, a bench coach, a hitting coach, a pitching coach, 6 scouts and a team doctor. Each one has a personality and playing-style/strategy/player-type preferences. That results in computer teams that not act always the same, but rather have some sort of character. Also, your coaches have now more impact on your players (again, this can be adjusted) – is your hitting coach the right one to take your top prospect to the next level? The scouting system is different this time as well. Each one of your six scouts can quick-scout up to 5 players per day (depending on their skills), giving you instant, yet possibly inaccurate feedback. But you can also send your scouts on missions, for example scouting player X in-depth, scouting the next opponent, scout minor league Y or travel to country Z to discover new talent. There is also SISA, the Sports Interactive Scouting Association, which offers scouting reports on every player – but not every player is scouted completely by SISA.

New country and cities database
A huge database of countries and cities is now included in the game which is used in multiple places, creating a whole virtual world. For example, when you create a fictional league, you can assign a country to the league and let the game attach random cities and nicknames to the teams. Or you can send one of your scouts to Puerto Rico and let him search the country for new talent. Or players may now reject contract offers because the team is too far away from their family. These are just some examples of how the database is used.

Revamped financial engine
This time, you can’t just spend what you earn. Each team has an owner with some sort of personality. Your success and the personality of the owner determine the budget you have for operating your team, just like in real life. Of course, like almost everything in OOTPBM 2006, this is an option so that online leagues can operate in a traditional way..

New HTML reporting
Previous versions displayed rather simple HTML reports using an external viewer. This time, we have added a HTML browser directly to the game-interface. And it does interact with the game. You can for example right-click on a player link in the box scores and get all the player-functions in a menu that you’d get elsewhere in the game, for example trading for the player or putting him on your shortlist. And we have made the HTML reports even better looking.

And that’s not all...
It’s impossible to list every feature that has been tweaked, enhanced or added. Because of the re-write, Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006 is a whole new ballgame. Find out for yourself!



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JonInMiddleGA
11-18-2005, 02:05 PM
PLEASE NOTE: When you pre-order, Sports Interactive will take payment from your card immediately.

Hmm ... let them hold my money for 3-6 months for a game that's been "totally rewritten from the ground up", all on a sight unseen basis.

Hmm ... lemme think about this a minute.

Umm ... no thanks.

(But that "offer" sure sounds to me like somebody is having cash-flow issues).

Vince
11-18-2005, 02:05 PM
Damn. I hate to sound fanboy-ish...but I'm continually amazed with the description of what they're offering with this game. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm still really excited about it.

Anthony
11-18-2005, 02:06 PM
Damn. I hate to sound fanboy-ish...but I'm continually amazed with the description of what they're offering with this game. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm still really excited about it.

ditto.

Huckleberry
11-18-2005, 02:11 PM
More league options
One of the big strengths of OOTPBM 2006 is its customization abilities, and this area of the game been overhauled. The following options have been added




League salary structure (assign typical salaries to different player qualities)
Set amateur draft date, rule 5 draft date, trade deadline date and roster expansion date
Draft pick compensation for lost free agents
Limit for foreign players on roster
Unbalanced and inter-league scheduling options
More playoff formats, for example split-season mode
League equivalencies (defines league quality)
League total modifiers (simplifies tweaking)
New play-modes
Why? That seems like it's just something held over from FM.

Vince
11-18-2005, 02:12 PM
Looks like it's an option though, so you could probably turn it off.

Huckleberry
11-18-2005, 02:17 PM
Eh, I just realized it has to do with being able to run leagues in other countries. I'm pretty sure Japan has such a rule in their league.

Would be nice if the default setting is based on the real life rule in a country if they have a real life league.

OldGiants
11-18-2005, 02:18 PM
Hmm ... let them hold my money for 3-6 months for a game that's been "totally rewritten from the ground up", all on a sight unseen basis.

Hmm ... lemme think about this a minute.

Umm ... no thanks.

(But that "offer" sure sounds to me like somebody is having cash-flow issues).
Cash flow issues and an inability to understand currency conversion.

$34.99 in real money converts to 29.74 in 'euros' at today's rates. Yet the price in euros is listed at 39.99. So is SI screwing the Europeans, or giving us an even better discount than the 20% for pre-ordering?

Enquiring minds want to know.

lighthousekeeper
11-18-2005, 02:20 PM
I am an admitted fanboy too, so I'm very excited.


Two game-views
...The first looks and feels like you’re watching a game on TV ...

What does this mean!? Is Vin Scully involved?


...Limit for foreign players on roster...

...It can have 20 leagues with 5 minor leagues each, in every European country. ...



I guess this is what we put up with when the world's best baseball sim is made in Europe - it's like futbol-favored baseball.

GrantDawg
11-18-2005, 02:35 PM
I wants.

jbmagic
11-18-2005, 02:36 PM
i would recommend to try out fm 2006 or ehm 2006 by SI to get an idea how ootp 2006 will be like.

SI games has a certain style to them.

lighthousekeeper
11-18-2005, 02:38 PM
Editable play-by-play commentary
Using XML, the game engine play-by-play has been completely rewritten and can easily be edited and enhanced. In addition, news stories and headlines are handled the same way.

This one is intriguing because I would think it really opens up the black-box of conveying just how complex OOTP is when determining the output of plays:


I assume the XML file will map a certain play to a text response, so would it be something like this?


<Play>
<ID>1</ID>
<Situation>Grounder to SS where SS has range of 10/10 and the ball is hit so only player with 10/10 range could get to it</Situation>
<TextResponse>Grounder to SS...amazing play...only a few guys in the league could have pulled that off...</TextResponse>
</Play>
<Play>
<ID>2</ID>
<Situation>Single to LF, because only SS with range of 10/10 would have gotten to ball.</Situation>
<TextResponse>%batter% strokes single to left-field, past diving %ss. No one could have gotten to that ball.</TextResponse>
</Play>
...
<Play>
<ID>8</ID>
<Situation>Single to LF, because only SS with range of 3/10 or higher would have gotten to ball, but ss had range of less than 3</Situation>
<TextResponse>%batter% strokes single to left-field, past diving %ss. He really should have gotten to that ball.</TextResponse>
</Play>
<Play>
<ID>9</ID>
<Situation>Single to LF, no one could have gotten to ball</Situation>
<TextResponse>%batter% strokes single to left-field.</TextResponse>
</Play>


or would it be like this:


<Play>
<ID>1</ID>
<Situation>Grounder to SS</Situation>
<TextResponse>Grounder to SS</TextResponse>
</Play>
<Play>
<ID>2</ID>
<Situation>Single to LF</Situation>
<TextResponse>Single to LF</TextResponse>
</Play>



Regardless, it has the chance of finally relvealing how complex ootp is for modeling play results, which is really the heart of the game.

DanGarion
11-18-2005, 03:00 PM
I've bought my copy. Now I just have to wait.

stevew
11-18-2005, 03:03 PM
Who else is up for an 80 team Venezuelan league!

mauchow
11-18-2005, 03:04 PM
h2h? lol

DanGarion
11-18-2005, 03:04 PM
"In addition, the first 10 people to pre-order will receive a copy of Sports Interactives Soccer Manager and Hockey Manager titles."

So when do I find out if I'm one of those first 10? :D

Zippo
11-18-2005, 03:14 PM
pre-ordered, how do we find out if we are the top 10. :)

vtbub
11-18-2005, 03:53 PM
Am I the only one troubled by pre-ordering a game six months from release?

DanGarion
11-18-2005, 03:59 PM
Am I the only one troubled by pre-ordering a game six months from release?
I haven't bought a game for quite awhile so paying in advance to get the discount and also the possibility to get a free copy of FM helped. Plus it's not like I'm not going to buy it when it comes out.

GrantDawg
11-18-2005, 03:59 PM
Am I the only one troubled by pre-ordering a game six months from release?
Not troubled at all, as I won't pre-oder it six months in advanced. If you're a sucker enough to do it, then more power to you.

JonInMiddleGA
11-18-2005, 04:06 PM
Am I the only one troubled by pre-ordering a game six months from release?

Obviously not.
(See Post #2 in this thread)

Hammer755
11-18-2005, 04:07 PM
Not troubled at all, as I won't pre-oder it six months in advanced. If you're a sucker enough to do it, then more power to you.
Actually, it's not a sucker bet - quite the opposite in fact. IMO, it's a wise decision. A 20% discount for a game that I am 100% certain I will buy and is definitely not vaporware. You'd never be able to make a 20% ROI in that amount of time on any investment.

JonInMiddleGA
11-18-2005, 04:08 PM
... that I am 100% certain I will buy

Game companies kill for people like you.

WSUCougar
11-18-2005, 04:15 PM
What does this mean!? Is Vin Scully involved?
Nope, Tim McCarver.

Hammer755
11-18-2005, 04:16 PM
Game companies kill for people like you.

Indeed, they must love people that buy 1, maybe 2 games per year, almost entirely from small text-sim companies. I'm sure I am the dream customer of the gaming industry. It's a good thing that your job doesn't depend on you judging the buying habits of others. :rolleyes:

I've bought every single version of OOTP since V3. SI is the most respected text-sim company in the business. The combination of the two has the potential to produce the best sports sim ever. If I can get all that for under $30 of easily disposable income right now, I'll sign up every day and twice on Sundays.

JonInMiddleGA
11-18-2005, 04:19 PM
Indeed, they must love people that buy 1, maybe 2 games per year, almost entirely from small text-sim companies. I'm sure I am the dream customer of the gaming industry. It's a good thing that your job doesn't depend on you judging the buying habits of others. :rolleyes:

's okay, I had the same :rolleyes: reaction to being 100% certain you'd buy ANY game 6 months or more in advance.

The combination of the two has the potential to produce the best sports sim ever.

The bolded word is the key ... does the name Brad Komminsk mean anything to you?

yabanci
11-18-2005, 04:21 PM
I read this announcement and all it says to me is blah blah blah blah blah. I'll believe it when I see it.

Coder
11-18-2005, 04:26 PM
Cash flow issues and an inability to understand currency conversion.

$34.99 in real money converts to 29.74 in 'euros' at today's rates. Yet the price in euros is listed at 39.99. So is SI screwing the Europeans, or giving us an even better discount than the 20% for pre-ordering?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Yah, this bothers me incredibly... the Euro-Dollar difference in prices is the same across the board for SI Games.. I pay approximately $10 more for EHM than you do in the US... I've pointed this out to Marc, but I've been told that it's a SEGA decision. The difference for EHM was not "only" between the US-price and the Euro-price, but the difference is also between the Pound-price and the Euro-price..

I've been a faithful OOTP-buyer the past few years partically because I find the price attractive. I'm only a casual baseball-fan but the game has made me more interested in the sport. The price, being lower than most games here in Europe, has made the decision to buy what to me is a fringe-title an easy one. However, with a €39-pricetag this is a no-buy for me.

It's not the fact that $10 is a huge amount of money in the end, but it's a matter of poor marketing. When you're distributing games on the internet to a worldwide market, you should maintain a worldwide price. If I go ahead and buy a game from the same store as someone else, I should be paying the same price as him/her.

oykib
11-18-2005, 04:48 PM
[/list]Why? That seems like it's just something held over from FM.

Some leagues have those limits. If you are modeling the NPB (Japanese), that option is very important. In Japan, you can only have four foreign players on your roster.

FBPro
11-18-2005, 05:35 PM
Amazing the number of people who appear to be "troubled" by someone pre-ordering a game for $30-35(or a company offering a discounted pre-order) yet have no problem pissing that same amount down the drain literally and regularly. Just an observation...............:)

Not passing judgment, just an interesting conundrum.

JonInMiddleGA
11-18-2005, 05:37 PM
... yet have no problem pissing that same amount down the drain literally and regularly.

Care to offer an example of when/how I piss that same amount down the drain?
Or would you simply like to talk out of your ass?

Joe Canadian
11-18-2005, 05:53 PM
I'll be getting the game anyways... so I might as well get the reduced price.

FBPro
11-18-2005, 05:57 PM
Care to offer an example of when/how I piss that same amount down the drain?
Or would you simply like to talk out of your ass?
Sounds like the a** thing is taken care of already, but anyway I wasn't talking about anyone in particular and figured that probably all of us within a reasonable period of time will piss that much of whatever beverage we choose to consume down the drain......boy oh boy, some folks are a bit touchy today.

jbmagic
11-18-2005, 05:59 PM
no license for real players

marc duffy says this at ootp forum when i ask if there going to be real players from all the leagues


Taken from http://www.ootpbaseballmanager.com/news.php?news=view&id=12

“We decided to go down this route when it became apparent that we would be unable to secure the necessary licenses to make a physical release more attractive,”

No license I'm afraid.

Zippo
11-18-2005, 06:03 PM
no license for real players

marc duffy says this at ootp forum when i ask if there going to be real players from all the leagues
meh, no biggie, I am in it for the fictional aspect anyways, besides I will bet that the community will be able to come up with a roster pack shortly afte rthe release of the game. This is one of the reasons that I love this game. :)

Ben E Lou
11-18-2005, 06:10 PM
does the name Brad Komminsk mean anything to you?http://www.fof-ihof.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/icon_rant.gif (javascript:emoticon(':rant:'))

Ben E Lou
11-18-2005, 06:11 PM
no license for real playersThat's the second-best news I've heard about this game. I was very concerned that with SI involved, they'd be using MLB and MLBPA licensing,

Crapshoot
11-18-2005, 06:13 PM
I don't get it - if I'm certain of a purchase because a person has earned my faith, and I am offered a discount, why on earth wouldn't I do so ? I know the gaming value I have gotten out of OOTP and SI in the past. I know that if there are problems, I will buy it, because it will be fixed. From one perspective, I suppose I'm easy money - but from another perspective, its money that SI/OOTP have earned from me with their previous effort - I believe that Markus (surrounded for once by a real team, instead of Kuffrey and co) will be worth it. I'd spend $30 bucks on a nice meal all the time - I don't see the money as a significant cost (so that's not a barrier). The time value of money of 30 bucks is non-existent - so that's not an issue either. What are you questioning Jon - the actual faith in OOTP ?

jbmagic
11-18-2005, 06:15 PM
i wonder how the player rating will be like.

will the higher league like MLB create the best fictional players compare to a lower league?

Crapshoot
11-18-2005, 06:23 PM
That's the second-best news I've heard about this game. I was very concerned that with SI involved, they'd be using MLB and MLBPA licensing,

Ditto. On the one hand, I'm not heavily invested in any of my leagues, so the second issue for me (a complete re-write, without worrying about online leagues ) is probably not one for many people - who want to continue their leagues. In a sense, OOTP is attempting to make a rare-transition - from a primarily multi-player game, to a single player one.

Marc Duffy
11-18-2005, 06:25 PM
Online is still a big part of Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006. We're going to be investing time in importing as much information from OOTP 6.12 / 6.5 leagues as is possible to make this transition smooth

MizzouRah
11-18-2005, 06:27 PM
This is a "must purchase" for me.

Crapshoot
11-18-2005, 06:27 PM
Online is still a big part of Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006. We're going to be investing time in importing as much information from OOTP 6.12 / 6.5 leagues as is possible to make this transition smooth

Eh Marc, I'm probably one of the rare people who wish you worried less about that, and more about the game engine. I love OOTP, but there are some god-awful flaws in the player generation scheme.

Marc Duffy
11-18-2005, 06:29 PM
Eh Marc, I'm probably one of the rare people who wish you worried less about that, and more about the game engine. I love OOTP, but there are some god-awful flaws in the player generation scheme.

This version of the game has been re-written from the ground up. I hope this means such flaws are removed.

Emiliano
11-18-2005, 06:30 PM
Cash flow issues and an inability to understand currency conversion.

$34.99 in real money converts to 29.74 in 'euros' at today's rates. Yet the price in euros is listed at 39.99. So is SI screwing the Europeans, or giving us an even better discount than the 20% for pre-ordering?

Enquiring minds want to know.
Exactly what I was thinking. What is that???

I'm not a baseball fan at all and I barely know the rules, but I tried OOTP6 (and 6.5) and I was really impressed by the game's depth. I didn't play it that much, but I promised myself to looking more into baseball games. Plus, this game also has a FM style, which I'm familiar with. I don't know if I would have pre-ordered it right now, but the 35$ price was very very appealing... But 40€??? (47$, BTW...) Why???

It's not the fact that $10 is a huge amount of money in the end, but it's a matter of poor marketing. When you're distributing games on the internet to a worldwide market, you should maintain a worldwide price. If I go ahead and buy a game from the same store as someone else, I should be paying the same price as him/her.
I agree 100%. Hard copies, I can understand. Games in physical stores here in Italy are overpriced, I know that. That's why I order games on the internet.
But download prices should be the same, in my opinion.

Marc Duffy
11-18-2005, 06:38 PM
Exactly what I was thinking. What is that???

I'm not a baseball fan at all and I barely know the rules, but I tried OOTP6 (and 6.5) and I was really impressed by the game's depth. I didn't play it that much, but I promised myself to looking more into baseball games. Plus, this game also has a FM style, which I'm familiar with. I don't know if I would have pre-ordered it right now, but the 35$ price was very very appealing... But 40€??? (47$, BTW...) Why???


I agree 100%. Hard copies, I can understand. Games in physical stores here in Italy are overpriced, I know that. That's why I order games on the internet.
But download prices should be the same, in my opinion.

I posted this over at the OOTP forums, to clarify the position of Sports interactive.

We do not adapt a one-price-fits-all strategy. The prices are set relevant to the territory and relevant to what other similar games in the marketplace are charging in those territories

If we tried to do a one price fits all you could find, for example, those in the UK could get the game much much cheaper than anyone else (due to the exchange rates) between the countries

vtbub
11-18-2005, 06:42 PM
I haven't bought a game for quite awhile so paying in advance to get the discount and also the possibility to get a free copy of FM helped. Plus it's not like I'm not going to buy it when it comes out.
Hope you got your copy. I'm sure I will pre-order before Christmas.

mauchow
11-18-2005, 06:45 PM
Some of those screenshots have gotten me so hard...Okay not really, but seriously, some of the stuff I'm seeing! Let's see:

-A double play rating! YES!
-Rest Status. Neat.
-Customize the information you want.
-Randomize nicknames for each team.
-In-game Unbalanced scheduling... FINALLY!

And many other things...

MizzouRah
11-18-2005, 06:47 PM
Some of those screenshots have gotten me so hard...Okay not really, but seriously, some of the stuff I'm seeing! Let's see:

-A double play rating! YES!
-Rest Status. Neat.
-Customize the information you want.
-Randomize nicknames for each team.
-In-game Unbalanced scheduling... FINALLY!

And many other things...
You said, hard.

lighthousekeeper
11-18-2005, 06:49 PM
...but there are some god-awful flaws in the player generation scheme.

:rolleyes:

Crapshoot
11-18-2005, 06:53 PM
:rolleyes:

Is that a disagreement or an acknowledgement ? :D

jbmagic
11-18-2005, 06:53 PM
will we be able to sim weekly, monthly,yearly, seasons at a time like in past ootp?

Marc Duffy
11-18-2005, 06:54 PM
will we be able to sim weekly, monthly,yearly, seasons like in past ootp?

Yes, and it's much much faster too

Marc Duffy
11-18-2005, 07:12 PM
There are 13 in total at : http://www.ootpbaseballmanager.com/screenshots.php?view=all&m=11&y=2005

Marc Vaughan
11-18-2005, 07:12 PM
Hmm ... let them hold my money for 3-6 months for a game that's been "totally rewritten from the ground up", all on a sight unseen basis.

Hmm ... lemme think about this a minute.

Umm ... no thanks.

(But that "offer" sure sounds to me like somebody is having cash-flow issues).
No cash flow issues at all, just that if we put the site up without allowing people to pre-order people would complain they couldn't ... simple as that.

If you'd prefer to wait for demo's etc. then thats cool also, just trying to ensure that anyone who wants to can, those who don't want to can just look at the pretty html ;)

Marc Vaughan
11-18-2005, 07:15 PM
Cash flow issues and an inability to understand currency conversion.
$34.99 in real money converts to 29.74 in 'euros' at today's rates. Yet the price in euros is listed at 39.99. So is SI screwing the Europeans, or giving us an even better discount than the 20% for pre-ordering?
Enquiring minds want to know.

Absolutely no idea as I've nothing to do with the price setting, but its liable to do with the wonders of tax, Sega, average game prices in a territory or a combination along those lines ...

jbmagic
11-18-2005, 07:15 PM
so there will be a trial and buy download to try for 6 months game time before you make a decision to buy the game like you did for EHM and FM?

Marc Vaughan
11-18-2005, 07:20 PM
so there will be a trial and buy download to try for 6 months game time before you make a decision to buy the game like you did for EHM and FM?
We do demo's for all our games, so thats a yes .. exact format will be up to Markus.

CraigSca
11-18-2005, 07:22 PM
I'm excited to hear that simming is faster, and yet the granularity of stats has become smaller. That was my main worry when I heard you can find how a guy hits with a 2-2 count against Boston with Tatum O'Neal sitting in row 5.

Icy
11-18-2005, 07:30 PM
Just preordered it, ootp is one of the games i enjoy the most, specially playing it in online leagues. I'm sure will be money well spent. For those asking about currency, my paid price was 31.99€ and i'm in Spain after the 20% discount.

It seems i'm always screwed with SI prices latelly, with FM because i'm european and it's more or less an european game so it's cheaper in usa to open market.... but now again i pay more for OOTP when i'm probably one the few Spanish who have ever heard of baseball. Anyway i will forget about that extra € with the enjoyment i'll get from it, just pointing it's not fair at all.

Rizon
11-18-2005, 07:45 PM
I'll wait until 2007 when it's discounted 20% and some of the bugs are removed.

Plus when h2h is installed.

21C
11-18-2005, 07:51 PM
If we tried to do a one price fits all you could find, for example, those in the UK could get the game much much cheaper than anyone else (due to the exchange rates) between the countries This makes no sense whatsoever. So how does that work now that people in the US could get the game much much cheaper than anyone else?

By my calculations, the cost to me in Australia is €31.99 or $51.39AUS but if I purchased in US funds ( which I have for most other download products ) then the price is $27.99 or $38.19AUS.

Fuck that for a joke!

jbmagic
11-18-2005, 07:55 PM
will fictional league be random or always the same fictional players when starting a new game?

Buccaneer
11-18-2005, 08:05 PM
will fictional league be random or always the same fictional players when starting a new game?
Sounds like a question for SkyDog, why don't you ping him?

jbmagic
11-18-2005, 08:07 PM
Sounds like a question for SkyDog, why don't you ping him?


its a question for Marc :)

i see you want to start old trouble again.

Buccaneer
11-18-2005, 08:07 PM
...Limit for foreign players on roster...

...It can have 20 leagues with 5 minor leagues each, in every European country. ...
Yippee. :rolleyes:

Bad-example
11-18-2005, 08:12 PM
Considering OOTP's track record...clunky interfaces, botched releases, poor support (think ITP)...this game is an obvious wait-and-see for me.

kcchief19
11-18-2005, 08:24 PM
I see some unfortunate parallels regarding trashy accusations between this thread and another recent thread. I'm not one of the famous OOTP fanboys, but I give kudos to the OOTP and SI guys in this thread for taking the high road and taking the questions head on. I certainly wouldn't blame them for defending themselves more vigorously.

This has been a standard MO for OOTP regarding preorders, although this one does seem a bit earlier. But it certainly makes sense in the regard that it provides an opportunity for their customers to consider a prepurchase as a Christmas gift. Their fanbase has indeed always anticipated preorders, and it's not like preorders are new to the industry.

Would I buy OOTP sight unseen? No. But I'd buy a product from Jim sight unseen, in part because I'm confident in his product and in part because I like him and I want to support this games. God knows I've gotten more enjoyment from his games than he has gotten money out of me. Therefore, I understand people who feel that way about OOTP.

Buccaneer
11-18-2005, 08:28 PM
I'm not one of the famous OOTP fanboys,
No shit?

dervack
11-18-2005, 09:24 PM
Am I the only one troubled by pre-ordering a game six months from release?
Nah. After being kinda disappointed in 6 and not bothering for 6.5, I don't blame you. I've said repeatedly on their boards that I will not buy another copy of OOTP on blind faith with Markus, and will play the demos to death before I buy.

dervack
11-18-2005, 09:34 PM
That's the second-best news I've heard about this game. I was very concerned that with SI involved, they'd be using MLB and MLBPA licensing,
Don't let Maximus hear you bring up the other thing.

mauchow
11-18-2005, 10:08 PM
will fictional league be random or always the same fictional players when starting a new game?
In 6.5, when creating a new league the players are random, so I imagine OOTPBA will be the same.

JonInMiddleGA
11-18-2005, 10:26 PM
What are you questioning Jon - the actual faith in OOTP ?

Although I really do have questions that any game I've ever seen is a next-gen "automatic" (particularly given the scenario of a complete engine overhaul), yeah, to put a fine point on it, I would say that OOTP would be one of the last games I'd ever consider as a sight-unseen purchase at this point.

Bad-example summed it up pretty well IMO when he said "Considering OOTP's track record...clunky interfaces, botched releases, poor support (think ITP)...this game is an obvious wait-and-see"

And he left out my personal favorite (issues that carry over from release to release to release to ...).

If anybody in the text-sim business can help break those curses, I'd have as high a hopes for SI doing it as anyone out there ... but sight unseen? I don't have that much confidence not even in SI.

JonInMiddleGA
11-18-2005, 10:27 PM
no license for real players

marc duffy says this at ootp forum when i ask if there going to be real players from all the leagues

jbmagic (or anybody who knows) -- does that include Lahman compatability?
Or just not "built-in" rosters?

ScottVib
11-18-2005, 10:44 PM
jbmagic (or anybody who knows) -- does that include Lahman compatability?
Or just not "built-in" rosters?

The rosters won't be built in. From the website, the Lahman Database capability is still a part of OOTP.

JonInMiddleGA
11-18-2005, 11:02 PM
The rosters won't be built in. From the website, the Lahman Database capability is still a part of OOTP.

Thanks S.V., that's a plus IMO (just wasn't sure whether the licensing would affect that or not).

DanGarion
11-18-2005, 11:42 PM
I don't get it - if I'm certain of a purchase because a person has earned my faith, and I am offered a discount, why on earth wouldn't I do so ? I know the gaming value I have gotten out of OOTP and SI in the past. I know that if there are problems, I will buy it, because it will be fixed. From one perspective, I suppose I'm easy money - but from another perspective, its money that SI/OOTP have earned from me with their previous effort - I believe that Markus (surrounded for once by a real team, instead of Kuffrey and co) will be worth it. I'd spend $30 bucks on a nice meal all the time - I don't see the money as a significant cost (so that's not a barrier). The time value of money of 30 bucks is non-existent - so that's not an issue either. What are you questioning Jon - the actual faith in OOTP ?
Some people don't feel patronage is a good thing I guess... :rolleyes:

vex
11-18-2005, 11:57 PM
I read this announcement and all it says to me is blah blah blah blah blah. I'll believe it when I see it.
ditto

Coder
11-19-2005, 04:47 AM
My final post about the pricing. While the tax-issue does make sense in a way (that SI needs to pay sales tax for sales inside Europe, and in Sweden that tax is 25%), it doesn't make sense that an Australian has to pay in Euros. It also means that I'll be getting a friend in the US to purchase the license and email it to me.. meaning one less sale in Europe.

Ragone
11-19-2005, 05:10 AM
hmm, i wonder when head to head play will be added

dervack
11-19-2005, 06:43 AM
hmm, i wonder when head to head play will be added
I forgot to add that to the list of why I will wait until after the demo is released.

lynchjm24
11-19-2005, 08:14 AM
SI had better get this game out 'on-time'. Some of these pre-order folks aren't going to want to hear the game will be released when it's ready.

MizzouRah
11-19-2005, 09:04 AM
Would I buy OOTP sight unseen? No. But I'd buy a product from Jim sight unseen, in part because I'm confident in his product and in part because I like him and I want to support this games. God knows I've gotten more enjoyment from his games than he has gotten money out of me. Therefore, I understand people who feel that way about OOTP.
Why anyone would buy anything "unseen" is beyond me, but c'mon kcchief the bolded statement is beyond weird, it's downright goofy. It's like you go over to his house for Christmas and exchange presents with him and his family.

Does that mean Markus, Arlie, and Gary are "unlikeable" guys?<!-- / message -->

Icy
11-19-2005, 09:16 AM
I bought it so i can start threads everyday asking why is not released already when i paid for it, isn't that the fun of text sims? :D

Bee
11-19-2005, 09:30 AM
Why anyone would buy anything "unseen" is beyond me, but c'mon kcchief the bolded statement is beyond weird, it's downright goofy. It's like you go over to his house for Christmas and exchange presents with him and his family.



Christmas party at Jim's! woohoo!

;)

jbmagic
11-19-2005, 01:17 PM
hmm, i wonder when head to head play will be added

from the feature list it sound like it will.


Competing against the computer AI is fun, but the real challenge is facing human competition. OOTPBM 2006 features a full online league mode where one commissioner and multiple owners play against each other

Vince
11-19-2005, 01:38 PM
jb, that hardly sounds like head to head.

ScottVib
11-19-2005, 03:19 PM
I bought it so i can start threads everyday asking why is not released already when i paid for it, isn't that the fun of text sims? :D

No, no, no, those threads are much better when you haven't paid for the game yet. :p

dervack
11-20-2005, 03:31 AM
jb, that hardly sounds like head to head.
Yeah, no kidding. That sounds exactly like what it already does. If it had H2H, trust me, Markus would say it has H2H, not something vague that someone might interpret to be H2H, especially after the last fiasco with it.

Young Drachma
11-20-2005, 04:37 AM
Am I the only one troubled by pre-ordering a game six months from release?

No, I dunno that I like that idea, either.

Galaril
03-27-2006, 09:34 AM
This one should be coming out very soon. I read on the OOTP board that Marcus will be giving a "fairly" firm release date at the end of March.

lynchjm24
03-27-2006, 07:05 PM
This one should be coming out very soon. I read on the OOTP board that Marcus will be giving a "fairly" firm release date at the end of March.

You have a link? I don't see any reference to that recently.

Galaril
03-27-2006, 07:17 PM
http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?t=112734

ootp 2006:

Release Date

It's been pretty evident that once the 10% pre-order offered ended on February 28th, the amount of people calling for (in some cases demanding for) a release date has risen sharply. What originally was scheduled to come out in 2005 was moved to Spring 2006 and it's remained that way for quite a while.

Right off the bat, I'd like to say that OOTP Baseball 2006 will not be released before the opening day. As much as it would have been great timing, the simple fact is that the game is not ready for a release then. I am hopeful, towards the end of March to be able to give a firm release date that we intend to stick to (as close as possible)

I am sure you will agree, the last thing that we want is to release a product that was unplayable or rushed out 'on demand' and whilst this will probably increase the speculation of when the game might be released we hope it puts to bed any idea that you might be getting the game in the coming few weeks.

Marc Duffy

MizzouRah
03-27-2006, 07:45 PM
He closed it right away.

stevew
03-27-2006, 07:52 PM
http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?t=112734

ootp 2006:

Release Date

It's been pretty evident that once the 10% pre-order offered ended on February 28th, the amount of people calling for (in some cases demanding for) a release date has risen sharply. What originally was scheduled to come out in 2005 was moved to Spring 2006 and it's remained that way for quite a while.

Right off the bat, I'd like to say that OOTP Baseball 2006 will not be released before the opening day. As much as it would have been great timing, the simple fact is that the game is not ready for a release then. I am hopeful, towards the end of March to be able to give a firm release date that we intend to stick to (as close as possible)

I am sure you will agree, the last thing that we want is to release a product that was unplayable or rushed out 'on demand' and whilst this will probably increase the speculation of when the game might be released we hope it puts to bed any idea that you might be getting the game in the coming few weeks.

Marc Duffy

Cool, so it should be out around the Trade Deadline then.

Galaril
03-27-2006, 08:01 PM
All I meant by this was that we have this to look forward to an the very near future. That's all.

MJ4H
03-27-2006, 08:15 PM
Are there any screenshots of a game in progress? I looked through the screenshot section of the website and did not see any. This is a big deal to me and will be a major factor in my decision whether or not to purchase the game.

lynchjm24
03-27-2006, 08:56 PM
All I meant by this was that we have this to look forward to an the very near future. That's all.


I thought it was something new, that post is from 3-10.

lynchjm24
03-27-2006, 08:57 PM
Are there any screenshots of a game in progress? I looked through the screenshot section of the website and did not see any. This is a big deal to me and will be a major factor in my decision whether or not to purchase the game.


There are a ton of screenshots. Go to the forum and there should be topics called Screenshot a day. You should be able to link to them from there. They are pretty impressive.

AgustusM
03-27-2006, 09:00 PM
But there are no in-game screenshots yet

AgustusM
03-27-2006, 09:06 PM
I have looked at the forums and have not found a screenshot of a game in progress. Can someone please point one out to me? I'm actually really surprised that this isn't more prominently featured in the screenshot section of the website.

no in-game shots yet

official word is "saving best for last"

pessimist view is "not done yet"

MJ4H
03-27-2006, 09:07 PM
I have looked at the forums and have not found a screenshot of a game in progress. Can someone please point one out to me? I'm actually really surprised that this isn't more prominently featured in the screenshot section of the website.

lynchjm24
03-27-2006, 09:10 PM
I have looked at the forums and have not found a screenshot of a game in progress. Can someone please point one out to me? I'm actually really surprised that this isn't more prominently featured in the screenshot section of the website.

Sorry, misread what you were looking for.

MJ4H
03-27-2006, 10:19 PM
no in-game shots yet

official word is "saving best for last"

pessimist view is "not done yet"

Sigh. I wanted to be excited about this game, but the in-game is the most important thing to me. All the other stuff sounds great from what I can tell, though.

Galaril
03-28-2006, 09:59 AM
Sigh. I wanted to be excited about this game, but the in-game is the most important thing to me. All the other stuff sounds great from what I can tell, though.


Me too. I getting a alittle antsy that they haven't released any in-game screenies.

PSUColonel
03-28-2006, 11:14 AM
The problem right now is that because so many people began clammoring for a release date, Marc Duff, SI's marketing manager, has decided it's not worth his while to post anymore screen shots or blogs. Mr. Duffy has aid he will have a firm release date b the end of this month. In al fairness to him, some of the comments and posts by many were pretty immature, but I feel the decision to abandon the OOTP community(even if not permanently) was just as bad.

General Mike
03-28-2006, 11:59 AM
April 27th, 2006.

PSUColonel
03-28-2006, 12:22 PM
April 27th, 2006.


Where are you getting that from? So far nothing has been said.

MizzouRah
03-28-2006, 02:04 PM
I haven't posted over there in quite some time, but ol TrueCardinalFan had to pipe in on that idiot who said, "Markus, go back to programming".

Baseball Mogul shouldn't even be mentioned in the same thread as OOTP.

General Mike
03-28-2006, 08:33 PM
Where are you getting that from? So far nothing has been said.

Just a guesstimate.

moriarty
03-29-2006, 08:04 AM
The problem right now is that because so many people began clammoring for a release date, Marc Duff, SI's marketing manager, has decided it's not worth his while to post anymore screen shots or blogs. Mr. Duffy has aid he will have a firm release date b the end of this month. In al fairness to him, some of the comments and posts by many were pretty immature, but I feel the decision to abandon the OOTP community(even if not permanently) was just as bad.

Are you kidding me????

;)

PSUColonel
03-29-2006, 08:14 AM
lol..I Know the maturity level there is so great. ;)